The Kelly Group at Morgan Stanley

As founder and senior advisor of The Kelly Group, Chris serves as the team’s pilot, shaping the Group’s strategic vision with a commitment to excellence. For more than 25 years, he has been providing personalized financial advice to individuals, families and business leaders in the Pensacola area and across the country. His extensive knowledge, experience and relationship management skills enable him to understand the intricate details of each client’s personal wealth. He focuses on what is most important to each client, so he can develop a tailored plan designed to address their specific challenges and accomplish their long-term goals.

Born on an army base in Germany, Chris spent his early school years near Ft. Rucker, AL before moving to the Pensacola area in 1976. He graduated from the University of West Florida with a B.S. degree in Marketing and Finance and began his career with First Alabama Bank in Birmingham. His first few years in the industry took him from Alabama to Tennessee, providing a solid foundation in the banking and lending industry. He enjoyed being part of the financial world, but it was working one-on-one with clients that was his true passion. In 2000, he made the decision to return to Pensacola, where he joined Morgan Stanley as a Financial Advisor. He has been an invaluable member of the firm ever since.

Throughout his career, Chris has remained committed to professional development, earning important industry designations including Certified Investment Management AnalystSM and Certified Wealth Strategist^®, and such firm certifications as Portfolio Management Director and Wealth Advisor. These credentials reflect Chris’s commitment to a world-class client experience and desire to provide ongoing education to himself and his clients.

Chris draws upon his vast experience to provide clients with customized portfolios and tailored advice. His disciplined process begins with asking the right questions and actively listening. This information then serves as the foundation for the development of a detailed plan that reflects each client’s goals, values and personal circumstances. He enjoys putting complex investment strategies into action and effectively communicating these strategies using simple and easy-to-understand language. Chris is also responsible for managing the Group’s various investment portfolios and interviewing potential new portfolio managers.

Chris’s desire to help others is equaled only by his dedication to his community, his industry and his family. Over the years, he has been active with many organizations. He has been a board member of the Waterfront Rescue Mission for the past nine years and has served with the Downtown Rotary Club for ten years. He is also active with Kingdom Advisors and Grace Community Church, as well as the Estate Planning Council of NW Florida, Cannon Financial and the Investment & Wealth Institute. Previous leadership roles include Escambia County 4H (board member and investment chair); WSRE Public TV (board member and investment chair); Covenant Hospice (board member); and Panhandle Tiger Bay (board member and President).

Chris believes balance is vital to a happy life. Outside of the office, he enjoys hiking and being in the mountains and has spent the last several years hiking sections of the Appalachian Trail. He also enjoys exercising regularly, playing tennis, kayaking and travelling, especially to visit clients who live across the United States. His life centers on a love for his family. He and his wife, Sharyn, have been married for 33 years, and find their most valued assets are their four children and two children-in-law.

Lori is an experienced Financial Advisor at The Kelly Group, a highly skilled wealth advisory team located in Pensacola, Florida. She works meticulously to provide clients with confidence and clarity about their future, working hand-in-hand with them on a flight path towards financial security.

Lori is committed to delivering exceptional service as she manages each client’s investment portfolio, screening and implementing changes as needed. She is also responsible for developing financial plans, ensuring the team’s extensive process is implemented in a timely and efficient manner and overseeing one-on-one educational meetings with clients and their extended family.

Growing up in Cedar Lake, Indiana, Lori moved to Pensacola in 1998 to pursue and complete her degree in Practical Ministry. Over the next 17 years, she worked in the restaurant, hospitality and telecommunications industries, gaining a diverse set of skills that she brings to her role as a Financial Advisor. Lori’s background and deep experience offers vital hand’s on knowledge that she generously shares with clients to help them achieve their personal and professional goals.

Lori believes financial success entails the development of a comprehensive plan and customized investment strategy. Her goals-based approach begins with a face-to-face meeting to fully understand each client’s specific objectives, personal values and family circumstances. This information serves as the foundation of a detailed financial plan and investment portfolio that is designed to weather various market conditions and business cycles. Lori receives great satisfaction knowing she is making a significant impact on the quality of her clients’ lives and often becomes one of the most important relationships to them and their families.

Outside of the office, family comes first. Lori and her husband, Tony, have been married for 12 wonderful years. They love taking their children, Chloe and Alex, on adventures that often include hiking and boating, as well as staying home for Friday pizza nights. Lori is devoted to her church family and enjoys singing on the Worship Team. She loves to work with Habitat for Humanity’s annual Women’s Build project. Favorite leisure activities also include running (she’s training for her 4th half marathon), Taekwondo with a goal of achieving her black belt, and taking her two fur babies for long walks in the sunshine.

For more than 30 years, Bob has been the financial quarterback for families, small businesses and institutions who are accumulating, preserving, and distributing wealth for both present and future generations. Bob assists with financial planning for college, performs insurance reviews, helps clients with retirement planning, and provides lending solutions. Bob guides his clients in their financial record keeping, coaches them with estate planning strategies, and is regularly implementing the most tax-efficient planning strategies and reducing investment expenses.

Outside of the office, Bob is active and passionate about serving his local community.  He serves his local United Way campaign as section recruiter and on review team, formerly chaired the Board of Friends of the local public radio station, served on a Rotary Club committee to develop an educational program for pre-k children in underprivileged areas, volunteered after a local tornado to clean up and help organize a day camp for children whose homes had been destroyed, and secured and lead corporate volunteers in a monthly project for patients at Children’s Hospital. Bob has also served as officer on his local literacy council, secured volunteers to read in an inner city elementary school, and chairs the Lenten Lunch service team in his church.  Beyond his local community, Bob has served Board member of Duke University’s Divinity School Board of Visitors where he continues to work as an Emeritus member.

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As the financial planner on the team, Asher acts as the air traffic controller for our clients. Walking clients through a well defined process, Asher helps them see where they are in their flight towards success. Asher believes that no client should near retirement unsure of where they stand and strives to cover every detail of a personalized plan to best project what to expect in the future.
Being the grandson of James (Jimmy) Kelly and the son of Chris Kelly, Asher is from a lineage of financial professionals. Born in Pensacola, Asher has spent time in the Midwest, the southeast as well as south Florida before returning to Pensacola. He graduated from Indiana University in 2011 with a BM and from Florida State University in 2014 with a MM with both degrees in music performance.

Asher has performed with many orchestras across the south including Pensacola Symphony, Panama City Pops Orchestra, Valdosta Symphony, Albany Symphony, Ocala Symphony, Gainesville Orchestra, Southwest Florida Symphony and Sinfonia Gulf Coast where he still serves as principal oboe.

In addition to performing, Asher has taught for the University of South Alabama, Atlanta Music Project, Porterville Summer Strings, FSU summer music program, a private studio as well as being a teaching assistant for Florida State University. He also serves as executive director of the Pensacola Community Music School, a local non-profit organization which gives access to music education to the underserved community in Pensacola.

Asher lives with his wife Grace Kim, an incredibly talented and accomplished violinist as well as their Australian Shepherd Reya. In their spare time they enjoy traveling, hiking, running, biking and spending time with their friends and family.

Kelly began her financial career in 1992 in Destin, FL. Her very first role and introduction to the industry was as receptionist, with PaineWebber, Inc. She later became Assistant to the branch manager and in 1997 moved to Dean Witter Reynolds, where she eventually transferred to the Pensacola branch in 2012.

In 2013, she joined the Kelly Group led by Chris Kelly. Yes, Kelly now works for Mr. Kelly. Her responsibilities for the team include working closely with clients, coordination of client relationship events and genuinely understanding the client’s immediate needs, taking time to get to know each one on a more personal level.

Kelly is originally from Ashtabula, Ohio. As part of a military family, she traveled extensively across the country and throughout Europe. Kelly has resided in the Florida Panhandle since 1987.

Kelly enjoys spending time with her husband Andy and mini schnauzer, Ringo. Kelly is an active volunteer in the community with Pensacola Sports Association and Tri Gulf Coast. In her down time, she loves the beach, biking, running, and traveling with her husband, their grown children and family.

Licenses: Series 7, Series 66, Series 9 and Series 10

Tabitha acts as the Kelly Group’s air traffic controller; keeping the entire team’s engines running on time and on schedule. You can’t fly first class if the flight never gets booked; Tabitha is our calendar-ninja who makes sure all meetings, calls, and events are scheduled, coordinated, and executed. Tabitha has experience managing people and does this well; and has three healthy boys of her own as evidence. She’s a natural born leader, too, having formed the Emerald Coast Roller Derby, a women’s nonprofit derby league where she served as president as well as coach from 2009 until 2018. In 2019 Tabitha became a certified taekwondo instructor and managed the Pensacola Tiger Rock Martial Arts Academy until she joined Morgan Stanley in early 2022. As a certified taekwondo instructor, Tabitha excels in helping students of all ages (from children to adults) improve their personal, educational, artistic, and professional lives through innovative martial arts and fitness training. In similar fashion, Tabitha is a true champion for our clients and our team; always seeking to streamline our processes and activities.

Tabitha lives in Milton with her husband, Justin, and three sons: Mercury, Hector, and Cyrus. They have 2 dogs – Ash and Prince Zuko – as well as a cat, Vader, and 3 parakeets: Christopher, Captain, and Polly. When she’s not shepherding our advisors and her boys into shape, Tabitha volunteers regularly at Gospel Projects Youth Athletic Club in Milton, teaches Sunday school, coaches baseball, and spends as much time outdoors – preferably skating and kayaking – as she possibly can.